Guiding Comprehension

Vocabulary

• Compound Words

Reread p. 338. Have students
identify the compound words
and break them into their
smaller word parts. Have
them tell what they think
each compound word means.

Compound words: notepad (note pad), small book for writing in; backpack (back pack), a small pack that you carry on your back; backyard (back yard), the garden area behind a house.

then… use
the vocabulary
strategy
instruction on
p. 339.

If… students
are unable to
determine the
meaning of the
compound
words,

Compound Words

Character • Inferential

What kind of person do you
think Lily is?

Possible responses: Quiet,
likes to be alone, likes nature,
likes to learn.

VOCABULARY STRATEGY

Compound Words

TEACH

Remind students that compound words are words that are made up of other, smaller words.
Explain that one way to
understand the meaning of a
compound word is to divide
it up into its smaller parts and
put their two meanings together.
Model finding the meaning of
notepad on p. 338.

MODEL The first compound
word I found is notepad. I
can split notepad into two words: note and pad. I know that notes are short sentences about something I have seen or read, and I know that a pad is something I write on. I think a notepad must be a small book for writing.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students reread
pp. 338–339 and identify other
compound words and their
meanings.

Personification

Explain to students that personification is when we write or talk about animals or objects as if they were people. For instance, we can make them talk like people or give them feelings like people. Have students look through Night Letters to find examples of personification.

"Night Letters"
by Palmyra LoMonaco

Student Edition
Unit 3, pp. 334–349

Realistic fiction has settings that can seem real, but the stories are made up. What details in this Snapshot make the setting realistic?

When evening comes, before the light fails and darkness falls, Lily runs outdoors. This is her time to look at nature before all the creatures settle in for the night. Lily takes her notepad so she can record everything she sees and hears. She imagines that all the creatures and things in nature write her letters, telling her about their day.
First there are the ants. A line of them marches back to their hill. What would their letter say? It would thank Lily for the bread crumbs that fell from her lunch today. She writes this onto her notepad.
Lily watches a hawkmoth flutter from flower to flower, drinking in each one's nectar. The moth would tell her that it visits only the fully opened blossoms, not the small budding ones. Lily writes this on her notepad.
She looks at the large, cracked rock in the tomato patch. She writes that today the rock touched drops of dew and a spider web. Tonight it will look for stars.
Soon Lily sees a blinking light, first on a blade of grass and then in the bushes. Then more and more lights blink on and off. The fireflies are inviting Lily to catch them. She writes their message on her notepad. "Catch us if you can!"
Lily sits under her favorite tree in the backyard. The big old sycamore has many stories to tell. It has told her about buds that burst into green leaves in the spring. It has told her about birds that sing as they build comfortable nests in its branches, and about how silent the tree is when the birds fly south. The old sycamore has told Lily of the winter, when evenings are too cold and dark for a nature walk. But this summer evening, as the sky fades, Lily writes what she hears the tree say to her now. "Dear Lily, Please climb me tomorrow."
She gets up from her seat against the tree's huge trunk. She stands and looks back at the sycamore. She is ready to go indoors now and think about the day and what she will write back to her backyard friends.
Lily is ready to write one more night letter about this day.

"Night Letters" by Palmyra LoMonaco

"Night Letters"
by Palmyra LoMonaco